


Visage

by yeaka



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 19:38:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11516046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Despite all the stories, Link goes to see this “monster.”





	Visage

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Fill for “Monster” [from this list](http://yeaka.tumblr.com/post/162565904960/prompt-list-3).
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own The Legend of Zelda or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

He sucks in a breath and takes another step forward, then another, drifting into the gentle ebb of water until the bottoms of his Hylian trousers are soaked. A little further, a little deeper, _so much more than he should be_ , and Link can feel it lapping at his waist. He’s forgone his tunic, because it’s meant for _Champions_ , and he doesn’t know if he’s betraying the title for doing this. The princess would throw a fit if she saw. Urbosa would rush in to pull him out again. And Revali would berate him endlessly, saying this is just the sort of _stupidity_ he expected of Link.

Maybe it is stupid. But Link’s so _sure_ of his conclusions that he’s willing to risk it. He’s brave enough. He goes until his feet leave the riverbed, and he’s just wading to the center. Everything is now dark beneath him; the starlight isn’t enough to see below. His horse waits uneasily back along the hill. Even the animals around here seem to believe the stories, of the fearsome river-people with sharp fangs and enormous claws, dragging sailors to their doom. As far as Link knows, he’s the only one who’s ever doubted it.

According to all of them, Link’s now the perfect victim, and he waits, impatient for his nervousness, to see which of them is right.

It isn’t long before the water quakes. A black shadow passes below, catching Link’s eyes, swirling around him and circling to the front. Then it breeches: a large, crimson fin parting the water. It reminds Link both of a shark and of _blood_. The creature rises higher, revealing golden eyes set in a cream-coloured face, then higher still to the crest of a nose, glistening teeth next to follow, each deadly sharp. It doesn’t stop until a tall head and broad shoulders loom over Link, gigantic to him, even with the rest of the creature’s body hidden below the waves—and Link suspects that part is _very_ long. The biceps that move against the tide are twice as big as Link’s, if not more. The being looks down at him, then _smiles_ , which makes its razor-blade mouth look either like a menacing sneer or hungry anticipation.

Only a small part of Link chills at the sight. The rest of him is rife with _excitement_ , because he know this at least—the creature is _gorgeous_. He’d only ever caught snippets before, here and there, gone in a flash, submerged and fleeting, but they were always _handsome_. And they always stuck with Link. He’s found many mysteries in Hyrule, but this one is the greatest. The slit-like eyes bore into him, and Link almost gives a little moan.

He dares to swim a little closer, less than an arm’s length away. His interest is boiling over, as vivid now as when he first had a glimpse of this wild being in the corner of his eye, destroying a lizalfos that was about to run him through. Since then, he’s been saved a dozen times when near the water. And when he collapsed, broken and beaten, on Eventide’s ragged beach, the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was _this_.

He woke again on the Lurelin shore, half-convinced he’d only dreamt it all and half-sure that he’d ridden out on the back of a large, red shark that begged him not to die. 

Under his steady gaze, that saviour glances away. His white cheeks stain a sudden pink, glorious in the pale moonlight. His eyes don’t have the blood thirst all the stories say—this is no _monster_. The creature coughs politely into his hand and says in a lilting, accented voice, “I am sorry, I did not mean to bother you.”

Link can feel himself smiling. The look comes rarely to him; he usually has far too much on his shoulders to feel any lasting happiness. But the sweetness of the “monster’s” words gets to him. The creature turns back to him and blusters, “Oh, how silly of me! But I should have introduced myself first. I am called Sidon. Please, do not worry—I know that you don’t speak—not that I’ve been following you!” And suddenly _Sidon_ is pink again, as though thoroughly embarrassed by the notion of being by Link’s side, even though it’s saved Link many times. And this quest has otherwise been such a _lonely_ one that Link hasn’t at all minded the distant company. In fact, it’s been good to know that someone’s watching over him. 

If he was ever going to speak, it would be to say this creature’s name and show his gratitude. 

But Link’s grown too excited for that, by the sheer truth that Sidon is everything he thought and hoped. He paddles the extra bit forward and means to throw his arms around Sidon’s wide shoulders, to hold Sidon close the way he would have on the way back from Eventide if he hadn’t been so exhausted. 

Instead, he finds himself holding Sidon’s shoulders, leaning up from the water, and brushing his lips across Sidon’s mouth. 

When he sinks back again, Sidon looks mystified, then giddy, then pleased to tears, and he scoops Link up in a crushing embrace that makes everything Link’s been through _worth it_.

He holds Sidon back and makes a mental note to tell Revali in the morning just how _right_ he’s been all along.


End file.
